This blog post is a heartbreaking one to write. One that actually had to be re-written completely in light of national election results.

But first, we must commend our peers at ColoradoCareYES that led the ONLY Colorado ballot measure that was originated and funded by the people of Colorado and not special interests. We've long held that the fight for social justice and equality in health care is a long, multi-year battle. We were hopeful that it would finally come to fruition this year. We are disheartened that it hasn't, but this is a real fight that continues on, and we look forward to working like-minded groups in common cause to eventually succeed.

The future of health care for Colorado and the nation is now in serious jeopardy. With the failure of Amendment 69, Colorado lost its best chance to improve health care for all of our residents. In the closing weeks of the campaign we saw it coming. Thanks to being massively outspent by the private insurers, who used millions of dollars directly from our insurance premiums, the opposition to universal health care was able to convince the public that saving money would somehow cost more.

This blog could be about "what went wrong" with the campaign. But there will be plenty of time for the full campaign autopsy to come. In fact, there are several meetings already scheduled to help understand what happened and how to improve.

Instead, I will cover the "what to expect" aspect of the state and national election outcomes, and how you, HCAC, and other groups can rally together to make real progress.

Denver, CO - The first campaign finance reports of the election year drew a stark contrast between the "people over profits" campaign in support of ColoradoCare, Amendment 69, and the corporate insurance industry interests that are lining up to defeat it.

If contributions equated to votes, Amendment 69 would pass with 98.64% of the vote, based on the campaign finance reporting of ColoradoCareYES and the opposition group Coloradans for Coloradans. Of the 1,108 contributions both campaigns received from registered voters in Colorado, 1,093 of them were in support of ColoradoCareYES as opposed to 15 for the opposition.

"Unfortunately for the inaptly named Coloradans for Coloradans, their fundraising reflects the character of the corporate insurance industry whose grip on health care they are trying to defend," said Owen Perkins, Director of Communications for ColoradoCare. "To preserve a status quo that puts profits first and prioritizes eight-figure CEO salaries over the well-being of patients, Coloradans for Coloradans collected 99.85% of their funds from corporations."

If you watched the Super Bowl yesterday, or at least the commercials, you probably noticed an interesting NFL Commercial that makes the claim that nine months after a victory, the winning city experiences a baby boom. This is apparently due to elated fans taking their joy to the bedroom after the game.

Assuming this to be true, and understanding that most healthy people of childbearing age are covered by for-profit health insurance with deductibles, then it is no stretch to realize that a lot of Colorado couples will be bumping into their high deductibles come delivery time around the beginning of November. Deductibles of thousands of dollars must be met before insurers will cover any medical claims. Even higher out-of-pocket maximums could mean medical bills as high as $13,700 just for having a baby.

Following a unanimous vote of the Health Care for All Colorado (HCAC) Board of Directors this week, HCAC is officially supporting Colorado Amendment 69 – the ColoradoCare state health care financing system.

Health Care for All Colorado continues to work and strive for a publicly-funded universal health care system, and is excited about the prospect of a fundamental shift in how health care is financed in Colorado that would move us significantly in this positive direction. Many activists and supporters of HCAC worked long hours with the ColoradoCareYES campaign to deliver 109,131 valid signatures to the Secretary of State, officially securing a spot on the November 2016 election ballot. With less than a year to go, this will be a long and intense fight and we need your support.

Well, by now you've no doubt heard the ColoradoCare folks were successful in their signature gathering for Initiative #20. That is an amazing accomplishment, and we offer our congratulations to the team of people who made that happen. And we know many HCAC members worked hard to secure signatures for Initiative #20. We honor that effort, and we honor the contributions of time and money it took to get there. Kudos to all.

HCAC has taken the position to support SB 15-197, a bill that reduces the number of hours required for Advance Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) oversight from 3600 to 1000 hours, an amount that is still higher than the requirement in most states. Although years of research and the most recent Institute of Medicine Study conclude that APRNs provide safe, high quality access to care at a lower cost, this bill faces strong opposition from physician groups.

On March 12, Judith Burke, HCAC secretary, provided the following testimony to Senate Health & Human Services Committee on behalf of HCAC.